


Training Ciri

by Ruusverd



Series: Echoes of the Fall AU [9]
Category: Echoes of the Fall - Adrian Tchaikovsky, Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Parenting 101: always give your child sharp objects, especially when they're angry, the sixth love language: fighting lessons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25860538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruusverd/pseuds/Ruusverd
Summary: Geralt shows affection via sharp objects and fighting lessons. Ciri and Lem bond over fighting techniques. Cahir is concerned. Jaskier just doesn't want to be the babysitter anymore.
Relationships: Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon & Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia & Jaskier | Dandelion
Series: Echoes of the Fall AU [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863010
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	Training Ciri

**Author's Note:**

> The descriptions of the different ways various tribes incorporate their animal shapes into their fighting style is one of my favorite worldbuilding details from the books, but Ciri doesn't have an animal shape yet to Step to, so she gets boring lessons.

Jaskier may have had a point about the girls, Geralt was forced to admit. Ciri had indeed thrown a terrible fit about Lem being allowed to help Geralt hunt while she was left behind with Jaskier and Plotka. And Cahir, but Geralt and Ciri still insisted he didn’t count.

Jaskier had looked very smug at being proved right. He looked significantly less smug and more harried by the time Geralt and Lem returned. The moment they’d dropped their kill Jaskier grabbed the Wolf by the shoulders, stared into his eyes and demanded, “Do something about your daughter! I cannot live like this!” then he’d Stepped and flown away.

Geralt looked over at Cahir, sitting on the ground just outside the invisible boundary of the camp. The Caiman was watching Jaskier’s flight enviously. Geralt sighed and resigned himself to not getting the post-hunt nap he’d been hoping for.

He dug around in his pack until he found the short bronze knife he used for tasks too delicate for his favored long iron blade. “You’ll have to take care of the butchering,” he told Lem. “It looks like I’m going to be too busy.”

The Hyena girl followed his gaze to Ciri and grinned, “Good luck, Wolf man. You’re giving me the easy work.”

Geralt aimed a playful cuff at her head that she ducked with a cackling laugh, but he had a sinking feeling she was right. He left her to handle the meat and went over to where Ciri sat cross-legged with her back to the camp. She was clearly sulking and absentmindedly chewing on the leather cord that held her amulet, something he’d noticed her doing when she was upset and not paying attention. He held the knife out to her hilt-first and nudged her with the toe of his boot, “Get up.”

“No, I don’t want to,” Ciri said around the cord in her mouth, not looking at him, “Go get Lem, you like her better, anyway.”

“If I’d said that to one of the hunters who trained me at your age, they’d have beat me til I couldn’t sit for days,” Geralt told her, “Get up and take the knife, or I might decide teaching you how to fight is a waste of my time and energy.”

Ciri jumped up and grabbed the knife almost faster than Geralt’s eyes could track. She’d have sliced his fingers on the blade if he hadn’t snatched his hand away in time. “You’re going to teach me to fight?” she asked eagerly, all signs of sulking vanished.

“I’m going to start showing you the basics, at any rate. Don’t tuck your thumb under your fingers,” Geralt corrected her grip on the knife’s hilt. “You may not be ready to Step for years, but you can learn to defend yourself on two feet in the meantime.”

“Just me, not Lem?”

“Lem isn’t my responsibility to train, and you are. Besides, Lem already has her own way of fighting. She’s a Hyena, not a Wolf. You can’t Step yet, but it’s important that the way you fight on two feet mirror the way your Stepped form moves, so you can quickly Step back and forth in a fight or a hunt without throwing yourself off balance or tripping over your own feet. You say you want to be a wolf, you might as well start learning how to fight like one.”

He wasn’t really sure how to teach her. He didn’t remember much of what it was like to fight without being able to Step. The Wolves fought Stepped as much as possible, and didn’t rely on carefully rehearsed sequences like some other tribes did. He’d never fought a Tiger, but they said the striped Shadow Eaters moved like dancers when they fought, flowing smoothly through elaborate patterns of motion. Wolves mostly relied on waiting for their opponent to give them an opening and then striking hard when they saw one.

Geralt settled for showing her the basic fighting stance used by the Wolves, then focused on showing her how to hold the knife, and how to put the most amount of force behind her strikes with it. He pointed out a few key areas of an opponent’s body she should try to aim for, and guided her slowly through a few simple ways she could evade or deflect attacks aimed at her own vulnerable parts. 

He kept her repeating the same basic movements until he could tell her patience was starting to run out. By that time Jaskier had returned and was helping Lem prepare the meat, so Geralt called a halt to their practice and sent Ciri to help as well.

He turned to find Plotka looking at him with her ears pricked forwards. He reached out and petted her nose. “What am I doing, Plotka?” he asked her. She bumped his chest with her head and said nothing. He Stepped and laid down in her shadow, hoping maybe he could sneak in a short nap after all.

~*~*~

He continued teaching Ciri whenever they stopped to eat or make camp, sticking to very basic things that she could use against a larger opponent, and practicing until she could strike and evade without having to think about it. She learned quickly, though she was easily frustrated and didn’t see her own progress.

She’d asked for an iron knife like his, and hadn’t been at all happy when he’d refused. He’d managed to satisfy her for the moment by explaining that even children born in Wolf villages weren’t permitted to practice with iron, and plenty of adult Wolves weren’t able to carry it. She didn’t need an iron knife to fight like a Wolf.

At some point he’d have to tell her that she would never be able to Step with iron the way he did, whether she became a Wolf or not. No Wolf priest would agree to perform the rites of iron for the adopted child of a lone Wolf with no tribe. But there was no point in bringing it up now when he knew it would just make her angry and there was so much else to worry about.

Privately he was glad she’d never be put through the rites, that she would never bear the lines of puckered scars he carried on his back and limbs from the ordeal. Iron Wolves were figures of legend throughout the world for a reason, but Geralt privately wasn’t convinced the benefits were worth it.Iron was useful and strong, but the rest of the world got along fine with other materials. Bronze, leather, and even stone were commonly used for weapons and armor that could be easily carried without requiring torturous rituals to align one’s self to the metal.

Ciri had lost the last of her jealousy towards Lem when the older girl started showing her some of the wrestling techniques she’d learned from her own tribe. Geralt kept an eye on them in case their sparring turned serious, but didn’t interfere. In spite of the age difference, Lem was far closer to Ciri in size and build than Geralt was. Any techniques that Lem found useful were likely to work for Ciri as well.

Cahir didn’t approve, either of Geralt’s training or Lem’s informal lessons. “You are going to ruin that girl,” he told Geralt quietly, approaching him one evening while the Wolf watched Lem and Ciri grappling in the dirt, “These things are known: Teaching her two different fighting styles at once, she won’t be able to keep them separate. And I’ve been watching, neither one will combine gracefully with a Lion’s shape. When she learns to Step she’ll have to start all over again to learn the proper forms, and unlearn bad habits besides.”

Geralt shrugged, “There aren’t any Lions left who would teach her properly, are there?” he gave Cahir a pointed look. “She won’t Step for another few years. Anything she can use to defend herself in the meantime can only be good. I don’t particularly care about whose style it is as long as it works.” He chose not to mention Ciri’s continued insistence that she wanted to be a wolf and not a lion when she learned to Step. Or the uncertainty about what sort of shape she might have inherited from Duny, if any. Those were problems for a later day, and none of Cahir’s business anyway.

Cahir huffed in annoyance, “I suppose next you will be asking _me_ to teach her as well. Perhaps I should show her how to fight like a Caiman, just in case.”

“If you go near her with a drawn weapon I’ll kill you,” Geralt said calmly, “And if I didn’t kill you Ciri would. Ciri doesn’t want anything to do with you, and for good reason.” He turned and glared at the Caiman, “If I want your advice I'll ask for it, Crocodile.”

“I am _not_ a- oh, now you’re just doing it on purpose!” Cahir accused. When Geralt continued to glare without denying it, the southerner threw his arms up in the air in annoyance and stalked back to his place on the edge of the camp.

Geralt felt a reluctant amusement creeping up on him as he listened to the man’s angry muttering. Quickly he pushed the feeling out of his mind. He refused to admit that Jaskier might have been right about him collecting Cahir. At least not until it had been longer than the week Jaskier had predicted. The Crow would never let him live it down if he turned out to be right about this, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Giving the angry 8-year-old a knife and lessons in how to use it might not be the best parenting decision ever made, but given their situation I think it makes sense. Also, it's Geralt. "Childproofing" is not a concept he is aware of.


End file.
